Lockheed Burbank had the Skunk Works, a shop known for the rather secretive production of spectacular flying machines. West Georgia Regional Airport was home to The Possum Works, a hangar held by a couple of old-timers who were always playing with the fun stuff. Between the three of them, they owned a Stinson Gullwing, a more »

I got my Certified Flight Instructor Instrument (CFII) rating in Alaska in 1983. It was the icing on the cake after earning my Private, Instrument, Commercial, Seaplane and Multi-Engine ratings as I now had the bona fides to be considered a professional pilot with a marketable skill. But, like most low time CFIs, I had more »

Mooney Airplane Co. Inc. M20TN 1 Fatal Atlantic Ocean near Atlantic City, New Jersey The commercial pilot departed Michigan on a personal cross-country flight in the autopilot-equipped airplane destined for New Jersey. Air traffic control records indicated that after the airplane departed, about 1200, a controller instructed the pilot to climb to 25,000 ft mean more »

I’m tooling around at 37,000 feet the other day—minding my business with 175 peeps comfortably lost in their own personal 2 square feet—when I overhear my lead attendant making an announcement seeking medical assistance. I tap my copilot on the shoulder and signal to him—picture a monkey see, monkey do routine—to listen in on the more »

The investigation of a prop strike and subsequent crash results in more questions than answers

How did a landing that seemed it would be so right wind up in a go-around that went so wrong? Look at the NTSB’s report on the July 29, 2015, accident involving a Socata TBM 700 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in which both occupants were killed, and you’ll see the agency’s take on it. But don’t more »

A couple of weeks ago I did cross one off the bucket list when I flew a paraglider for the first time. I’ve always been fascinated by early flight and by very minimalist kinds of flying, and paragliding is about as minimalist as you can get. There’s you, the wing (which is what these kinds more »

On a clear October night in 1968, I took off from Westchester County Airport (HPN) at 7 p.m. in a Mooney Statesman with two non-pilot hunting buddies. The destination was Quebec City in Canada. I passed my private pilot check ride in July 1968, and this was my second long cross-country flight and my first more »

Here’s how one pilot set the world prop/piston speed record and came to dominate unlimited air racing

If you’re determined to make an airplane fly faster, traditional wisdom suggests there are three ways to realize that goal. In ascending order of difficulty, you can increase the power, improve the aerodynamics or reduce the weight. Perhaps no class of airplanes exemplifies the need for speed more than unlimited air racers, and few pilots more »

When people ask me what the coolest experience I’ve ever had in an airplane is, I don’t hesitate—it was my F/A-18 Hornet ride to an aircraft carrier

It began at the NAS Oceana O Club at the end of a successful airshow weekend in late September, 1999, when U.S. Navy Captain and Commander of the Strike-Fighter Wing Atlantic John “Lites” Leenhouts joined our table. I’m not sure where Lites got his call sign, but he is the kind of person who lights more »

The arguments, theories and facts about who was really the first to fly

The Backstory The popular story of who flew first is easy. It was the Wright Brothers, at Kill Devil Hills (Kitty Hawk), North Carolina, December 17, 1903. Orville was at the controls, and there are photographs of the plane, the Wright Flyer, on that very flight, which lasted 12 seconds and covered 120 feet. To more »

Cessna 182 Skylane 2 Minor Mackay, Idaho The pilot reported that, while flying in mountainous terrain around 9,500 feet mean sea level (700 to 1,200 feet above the ground), the airplane encountered a downdraft. He added that he immediately turned away from the mountainside in a right turn, added full power, selected 10º of flaps, more »

“So tell me, Jeremy, what would you do? It’s the end of a trip, and you’re itching to get home for your kid’s soccer game. You bid this trip specifically so that you’d get home with just a few minutes to spare before it begins. But, on landing, your phone rings. It’s scheduling, and they more »

What happened that led an Airline Transport Pilot with an estimated 12,100 hours of flying time to allow an instrument approach to go so frightfully wrong that it cost his life and the lives of his six passengers? The NTSB doesn’t pin it on any one thing. Rather, as is so often the case, the more »

Comfort/noun: A state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint. The easing or alleviation of a person’s feelings of grief or distress. Rochester, New York, on the south shore of Lake Ontario is infamous for frigid cold and snow-packed winters. Back in the day, I was a newlywed just back from two years more »

Back in the day, vertical guidance on final approach was reserved for the Cadillac approaches, which almost always meant an ILS. Airports whose tax base or FAA grant status didn’t cut it were stuck with non-precision approaches. Without vertical guidance, we’d cross a fix and step down to the next altitude, fix after fix, until more »

My morning started on the campus of the University of Louisiana. The “Home of the Ragin’ Cajuns” is known for its culture, cuisine, Southern hospitality and unique dialect of the French language. There was nowhere else I desired to be living while pursuing my degree. An online company would email me a daily inspirational quotation more »

Every March, these dogs demonstrate what it’s like to be the world’s most enthusiastic canines

When I was a kid, a few years back, I always considered myself lucky to be growing up a government brat. My father was an inspector with the Department of Justice, and we moved around quite a bit. (Standard joke in the family: “My dad has been in and out of jail for 30 years.”) more »